Summary
The translator of this text from a 17th century Arabic manuscript notes that it is in two parts, a homily and an apocalypse. He adds…
The sermon aims to condemn all relations with others and especially the use of the Arabic language (21-23-25, 28). to give moral prescriptions (fol 25 – 26) which often begin like those of Ammonas {Patr. or., t. XI, p. 458-471) by the words take care (there is however no textual dependence). Devotion to the Holy Virgin, in the monastery where ishe appeared several times to Samuel, is also recommended at length (fol 27-28).
After this (fol. 28), Gregory, bishop of El Qais (or Kais), asks Samuel about the end of time.
So here we have a writing composed in Coptic at the Qalamoun Monastery (or Kalamoun). All peoples who have seen their language supplanted by that of the conquerors, and especially the friends of the Copts, will not read without emotion the phrases such as “the language of the ancestors”, “the beautiful Coptic language in which the Holy Spirit has often expressed by the mouths of the spiritual Fathers”, the disappearance of “the biographies of the saints”, the abandonment of “the names of the saints” to give children foreign names, the error of those “who are famous for their books, those whose Coptic language equaled in their mouth the sweetness honey and spread around them like the smell of perfumes because of their beautiful pronunciation of the Coptic language, and [that have left their language for Arabic]”.
This sermon is ancient, because the Coptic language was quickly supplanted. Gregory, bishop of Kais, is mentioned in the history of the Patriarchs of Alexandria under five successive patriarchs who ruled the Coptic Orthodox church from 661 to 730, cf. Patr. Or., t. V, p. 9, 20, 22, 42, 49; the writing is thus placed at the beginning of the eighth century.
Text
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God; glory to Him. Amen.
With the help of God, may he be blessed, we begin the writing of a speech by our holy father Anba Samuel, superior of Deir-el-Qalamoun – May his prayer be with us! – Amen.
He has made in this discourse some account of the events that will take place in the land of Egypt during the reign of the Arab era. Attending this discourse was Gregorius, bishop of El-Qais, who had come to visit him and to receive the cure of an illness he had. As for Apollo, the disciple of the holy father Anba Samuel, he expectsa great profit from this discourse for him who reads it, observes it and accomplishes what is written there.
When the Arab emigrants seized Egypt, they were few in number; but they multiplied their benefactions towards the Christian people. It was then that our brothers the monks began to talk about them with our Father, Anba Samuel, asking him if their dominion over the land of Egypt would be long prolonged or not. And the saint, in the presence of the bishop, sighed from the bottom of his heart and said, “Blessed be God who established the times by setting a limit, which exalts one nation and lowers another, which dethrones and raise kings. Do not believe, my beloved children, that this nation is pleasing to God because he has delivered this land into their hands; for the wisdom of God is unfathomable to humans, and there is no one who can know the works of the Creator or the end of time, other than he alone.
“I tell you, my children, of the numerous evils which the heretics committed against the Orthodox at the time of Anba Dioscorus” and which they still do in our day, and of those which they committed against our father Dioscorus himself: they had exiled him to the distant islands.
(20 V.) Proterius sat on his patriarchal seat during his lifetime and committed many injustices against the Christians, deporting the bishops, causing the Orthodox to be slaughtered. demolishing the monasteries. “As for Ouquiliânos, the false monk” [litt. whose cap is false], I am silent about him, because I can not report and describe the bad actions he committed in Jerusalem or his massacres of Orthodox, nor describe what this evil man did [litt. this evil form], which we must not name, Kabeyros al-Muqawiqiz, iniquitous in his actions, who oppressed the Orthodox, who drove them from one place to another, putting all his energy into pursuing Anba Benjamin: he clenched his teeth against him and said: “May I find the man with the big beard to order that he be stoned!” That is why God heard the prayer of his elect who were crying out to him and sent them, according to their request, this nation that seeks gold and not religious profession.
For me. I prefer silence, my dear children, and I do not want to describe to you what Christians will suffer from Arab emigrants during their reign. Would to God that you had not remembered their name in our midst today, for it is a haughty race that we should not name in the assemblies of the saints. Ah! this name! that of the Arabs, and their domination contrary to our laws! those haughty kings who will reign in their time! these punishments that will affect future generations because they will have acted like them!
In truth, my children, the angel of the Lord has revealed to me the hard times and the numberless sorrows that will be done to the children of men by this haughty nation.
I would not like to speak of these Arabs, nor of their difficult reign, nor of the end of time, according to what is written: “It is not for you to you to know the times, nor the epochs, for the Father has put these things under his sole power. But I will tell you some details in the interest of your souls; and what I am about to say to you will unfailingly come to pass in future ages when the commandments of God are abandoned. But every man with a watchful heart will not imitate the conduct of the Arabs and his soul will be saved:
Do you see, my children, this nation so small in number? It will multiply and become a very great people. Many other nations will join them, and they will multiply like the sand of the sea and the locusts. Their rule will consolidate and they will extend their rule over several countries, to the East and the West. They will seize Jerusalem several times. Many other peoples among the Hebrews, the Greeks, the Edessaeans, the inhabitants of Djordjn, the inhabitants of Amid, the Chaldeans, the Persians, the Berbers, those of Sind and India, will mingle with them. They will carry their rule very high and will remain in peace with Christians for a short time. After that, Christians will become jealous of their actions; they will eat and drink with them; they will play like them; by their example they will dissipate and commit adultery. Like them they will take concubines and defile their bodies in contact with the women of the Arab rule, rebellious and impure; they will lie down with males like them; they will steal, swear, and commit injustice; they will hate one another and will give each other to the nations without mercy; many vain speeches that should not be said, will come out of their mouths. They will represent the image of God, that is to say man, in many ways: They will call some pigs, others dogs, others donkeys. also, Christian women will abandon the good customs proper to ordained women, to become accustomed to blasphemy, become idle, bad in their behavior, dissolute in their intentions.They will make use of blasphemous words and their mouths will produce speech that no one should utter, for they will blaspheme against God, and will even go so far as to say without fear: “I will act against the God who created me …”
Misfortune! twice misfortune! What will I say about these works that will excite the wrath of the perfect God? Without the mercy of God and the forbearance of God. In his mind, he would no longer give time to the world. Truly, in those days, Christians will be full of iniquity, in laziness for the things of God, distracted by their own concerns. At that time they will love to drink and to eat; they will indulge in pleasures more than in the love of God; they will go to the meeting places where they drink and eat more than they go to the church of God. They will sit in the streets, preoccupied with worldly things, not caring for the Church. It will not occur to them in the heart that the readings are made without their being present; they will not even hear the Gospel. It is only at the end of the Mass that they will present themselves at the church. Some of them will do what is not allowed by worrying about their affairs to the point of missing the readings. They will then present themselves at the church; they will take the gospel, inquire about the chapter that has been read, and then will stand alone in a corner to read it: they will thus fulfill their own law. Woe! twice misfortune!
What shall I say, my children, about those times and the laziness that will overcome the Christians? At that time they will deviate much from loyalty and imitate in their actions those of the Arab people; they will give the names of these people to their children, leaving aside the names of Angels, Prophets, Apostles and Martyrs. They will commit yet another action, of which your hearts would be sorrowful, if I told you, that is. They will abandon the beautiful Coptic language in which the Holy Spirit has often spoken through the mouths of our spiritual fathers; they will teach their children, from their youth, to speak the language of the Arabs and they will boast of it. Even priests and monks will also dare to speak Arabic and boast about it inside the temple. Misfortune! twice misfortune! my dear children. What will I say? In those days the readers in the church will understand neither what they will read nor what they will say because they will have forgotten their language, and they will really be the unfortunate ones worthy of tears, because they will have forgotten their language and speak the language of the Arabs.
But woe to every Christian who teaches his son, from an early age, the language of the Arabs, thus making him forget the language of his ancestors, because he will be responsible for his fault, as it is written: “The parents will judged for their sons.” What shall I say about the slackening that will win the Christians: they will eat and drink inside the temple without fear; they will forget the fear of the temple, it will not be respectable in their eyes; its gates will be abandoned, and even half a cleric will not be seen, for they will neglect and fail to fulfill the seven rites of the Church; you will see the men of that time looking for the ranks of the priesthood when they do not yet even deserve to be readers to read before the people. Many books will fall into disuse, because there will be no one to look after the books, their hearts being attracted to foreign books. They will forget many martyrs because their biographies will disappear and there will be no more. The few biographies that will be found, if read, will not be understand by many of the faithful because they will ignore their language. At that time many churches will fall to ruin; they will be deserted at feast day vigils and the day before Sunday too. No one among Christians will be able to read a book on the ambo, even the forty books of the saints destined for our salvation. You will not find anyone able to read to the people, to instruct them, because the Christians will have forgotten their language and will not understand what they will read. Also readers will not understand. In the same way Arsinoe, the great city which belongs to Fai’um, as well as its cantons, where the laws of Christ are. Those who are famous by their books, strong in the knowledge of God, those whose Coptic language equaled in their mouth the sweetness of honey, and spread around them like the smell of perfumes, because of their beautiful pronunciation of the Coptic language, all of them, at that time, will abandon this language to speak the Arabic language and to boast of it, to the point where we will no longer be able to recognize Christians in them; but on the contrary they will be taken for Berbers. Those in Assa’id who will know and still speak the Coptic language will be mocked and insulted by Christians their brothers, who will speak the Arab language.
Woe, twice woe! How great the sadness! how serious are the actions that will be accomplished in those days by the Christians! In recounting these stories my heart really suffers, my eyes shed tears and my body shudders. Do you think there is a more painful feeling for the heart than that of seeing the Christians abandon their sweet language to boast of that of the Arabs, as well as in the names of their children, that those who abandon the names of the Saints to give their children foreign names, those who do so will be excluded from the blessing of the Saints, and whoever dares to speak inside the temple the language of the Arabs, they will depart from the ordinances of our holy fathers.
At that time men will commit grave sins and there will be no one to correct them, to instruct them, and to take pity on them, because they will all sin, their old men as well as their masters. The father will learn the fault of his son without taking it back and the woman will find for her daughter what is wrong. Far from taking it back, she will fall with her into sin, because sin will no longer be a cause of remorse for Christians, but on the contrary, they will find sweetness, because they will remain without masters. That is why they will add sins to sins and there will be no one to instruct and scold them. But everyone will pursue his own interests. The priest will not take back the sinner. He who is great will not teach the little one and the little one will not obey the great, for they will abandon the laws of the Church and the rules of our holy fathers. They will even go so far as to suppress the prescribed and recognized fasts. Those of them who fast will not fulfill their fasting properly because of their greed; they will incite others to lunch with them, for each will have chosen for himself a rule according to his desires. There will be others who, by imitation and by human respect, will break the fast before the prescribed time and before the shadow reaches the measure which varies according to the months. You will find them in the church in a nonchalant and lazy manner, talking about the vain things of the world, without thinking, without remembering that the body of God is on the paten, that his blood is in the chalice on the altar . On the contrary, this formidable mystery will be for them like a matter of amusement. If any of them is taken with the zeal of God and goes so far as to say some word of instruction drawn from the canons, they will immediately take him for an enemy and, like lions, they will open their mouths against him.
The women also will engage in chatter in the church, in their negligence, without being rebuked by anyone, while the Apostle St. Paul says: “Women must stand in silence in the church, and have their heads covered.” The priests themselves will know negligence and distraction – they will no longer obey the sound doctrine. If any of them thinks of uttering a few words of instruction, he will do so with negligence and without taking pity on the people; and in that they will rouse against themselves the anger of God, for they will have departed from the canons of the Church and the wisdom of our spiritual fathers.
And [God] will deliver them to the dominion and the hatred of Arab emigrants, who will inflict great losses on them, will overwhelm them with very heavy taxes that they can not bear. They will be reduced to poverty. The Arabs will also spoil all their works on the earth because of the hardness of their yoke. They will cause widows and orphans (f 24 rd) great damage; they will insult the old men, persecute the virgins, and attack them in their houses because of taxes. They will scoff at the Christian religion and have no esteem for priests or monks; they will eat, drink and play inside the churches: without fear they will sleep with the women in front of the altar. They will make churches of God like stables for horses, attaching their horses and their beasts of burden. The powerful spirits who watch over the church will depart and go to heaven when they see the bad deeds that this nation will do in the churches. They [the Arabs] will destroy many churches by razing them to the ground; they will transport their woods, their bricks, their stones, and build palaces and superb dwellings. They will detach the crosses from the churches, and they will change a great number of them into mosques for their use, because of their pride and hatred against the Christians. But the holy martyrs who will see these things accomplished in the places of their martyrdom, will bring to God their complaints against this nation, saying:
“Lord, who is the just judge, judge between us and this nation that performs such acts against our churches. Yes, God of goodness, enter into judgment with them and render to them according to their actions.” Then Christ Jesus, the Word of the Father and his only-begotten Son, will satisfy their hearts and console them by saying: “Take patience, my dear and revered ones, until their time is fulfilled. Their actions, of which you are witnesses, are because of the sins committed by my people, because they rejected my commands and my orders to imitate this nation. That is why they will dominate them until their time is accomplished. The holy martyrs will then cease their supplications and take patience until the end of the age.
Know then, my children, (f. 24 v.) that this nation will commit a great number of iniquities and injustices upon the land of Egypt; their dominion will be greatly strengthened, their yoke will weigh like iron, and this people will multiply like grasshoppers; it will seize upon several countries that will experience its domination, and its injustice will increase much in Egypt to the point that the earth will be ruined; they will eat, drink, and amuse themselves; they will dress like spouses; they will boast a great deal by saying, “No nation will ever dominate us.” They will submit the land to the land register and collect the taxes; it will result in a great costliness of life on the earth; a large number will perish from hunger and will remain on the earth without anyone giving them them a burial. It will happen also that those who sleep at night in their own houses, will each find, waking up in the morning, three officials at their door, each of them demanding a different kind of taxes. That is when many of the major towns, regions, hamlets and harbors will be destroyed, and this land of Egypt, rich in trees and gardens, will become a sullied, wooded and barren land because of the multiplicity of taxes levied on the country by the Arabs; for they form a proud nation, not very merciful. “Their yoke will weigh like iron, they will molest their subjects by asking for gold: they will enumerate the citizens, big and small, they will inscribe their names in the registers and claim the tax of capitation, clothing and their effects to pay taxes, and their masters will get their hands on all their possessions for reasons that they will press upon them. The population will move from one city and from one country to another, to seek peace without finding it, while they will suffer all these difficulties, they will remain in the blindness of their hearts, without understanding the correction of the Lord, without being converted and without seeking but on the contrary, they will add to the number of their sins, for the pride of Christians will increase greatly in those days.
They will rise one above the other, they will complain of each other; they will make fun of the words of the Holy Books, which are of the Spirit of God. Even priests, monks, and ministers of the holy altar will do such works; they will boast of it, saying, “We have more merit than our fathers.” They will forget what is written that pride in man is an abomination before the Lord. When they perform these actions, then they will be dominated by this nation, which will cause them much suffering, as it is written: “If they despise my rights and keep not my commandments, I will correct with their rod their fault and, their laziness with the rod.” Pray then, my children, that what is so written in the Psalms should not be done against us; beseech the Lord that he will not forsake his people to the end, but that he will turn his anger into mercy and his indignation into a blessing, that he will at this time turn his gaze to his Christian people, may he remember his wife the Church, send them his heavenly help, not act according to their sins, and not treat them according to their iniquities. And now I recommend to you, my dear children, and I beg you humbly to recommend to those who will come after you until the end of the ages, to watch over their souls perfectly and not to let a Christian speak the Arabic language in these places, for this is the subject of a great judgment: many will indeed dare to speak at the altar the language of the Arabs. Woe, twice woe to those! as I have heard myself from an old man dedicated to the service of God, clothed in the Spirit, accomplished in holiness. He answered me when I asked him about the kings of the Arabs: “Look, my son Samuel, and lay hold of what I say to you: At the time when (f 25) Christians will dare to speak to from the altar the tongue of the Arabs, by which they will blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and against the Holy Trinity, at that time misfortune will come upon the Christians, misfortune and seven times misfortune!“
What if I committed myself, my children, to tell you the stories of this holy old man, my speech would be prolonged too much; but I give it up because what we said is enough. Understand who has a heart that can understand! He who keeps himself from the works of the Arabs and does not imitate them can save his soul.
When the holy old man had explained these words, he turned to Anba Apollo, and all the brothers and told us; : “You have just heard from your ears something of the trial that will befall future generations (who will dare to modify the holy canons and the sound doctrine of our fathers: I have made known to you the trials that they will suffer, you too, my dear children, take care and be vigilant, for happiness and blessings are given to those who take care and watch, now, my dear children, take care and watch, for the goodness and the blessings are to those who act according to the apostolic prescriptions: At all times we must apply ourselves, my dear children, to avoid the suggestions of the devil and not to follow the inclinations of our hearts and of our body, for the devil misleads the heart and throws in his ideas and his inclinations. Let us flee from our inclinations and Christ will fill us with the goods of his eternal kingdom. – Notice: Take care, my dear children, of negligence, because it is the root of all sorrows and it favors many evil weeds. Take heed, my children, and flee from concupiscence, because it obscures the understanding, prevents man from understanding the commandments of God, makes him a stranger to the Holy Spirit and prevents him from awakening to the knowledge of God.
(26 rd.) Take care, my dear children, of too much preoccupation, for it makes the man a stranger to the goods of Paradise; beware of impurity, for it irritates God and his angels; take heed to pride, for it is the source of all evils, and it is he who keeps man away from God; beware of vanity and the desire for authority, for these two defects spoil man’s whole effort and make him lose in the sight of God. Take care, my dear children, and do not be pusillanimous in the practice of virtue, because the one who is pusillanimous, who has the weak heart [which has no courage], which gives place to laziness, fills all of it with sins. If you are pusillanimous, if you struggle with little courage, you will neglect your rule and you will become lazy (when it comes to prayers and works). But, be lions [litt. be hearts of lions] reject every thought that displeases you, and flee from idleness of the body, for idleness there develops tares. Abstain from adultery, because it has made victims and hurled them down, and those he has thrown into hell will never come back. Take care, my dear children, do be fond of a child or a baby and do not enter where there is a woman, because the flint making contact with the lighter makes fire and burns many fields. Take care, my dear children, and flee all the bad deeds that precipitate man into hell and deliver him to suffocation; but do the good works that lead to the heavenly kingdom; they are: purity, humility, prayer, fasting, ascetic works, patience, endurance, long-suffering, charity, blessedness, gentleness, fraternity, the acceptance of pain, humiliation, littleness. Reject (26 ff.) from you all laziness … all anger and weakness, for it is only at the price of great humiliation that our fathers have completed their course, suffering from hunger, thirst, abstaining absolutely from drinking any kind of wine, for the disorders of concupiscence arise in the members of man from the excessive use of wine: wine excites concupiscence by rendering it unseemly, and it is this which breaks the flesh of the body. And in general the excessive use of wine opposes the Holy Spirit and our fathers know the number of sorrows caused by wine from the beginning. Abstain then. But in small quantities, it can be used in diseases of the body; for if the great ascetic Timothy was allowed to take a little wine because of his stomach and his many infirmities, what would I do for those who are in the effervescence of youth and who are often subject to great suffering? . In truth, my children, it is good to be reserved in all things and it is a great gain that humiliation: for whoever humbles his soul saves it, makes it reach the port of salvation and will be satiated with the goods of the heavenly Jerusalem.
And now, I urge you with great care and authority to embrace and put into practice all the advice I have given you and all the rules that have been passed on to you. Recommend to your children to prescribe to those who will come after them until the end of the future ages, that they watch, and that they jealously observe the works proper to the monastic vocation, so that they may deserve the legacy of celestial kingdom. For there will be a time when many monks will dissipate and amuse themselves, and because of them the world will blaspheme against the monastic state; they will drive away from them the canons and the prescriptions of those who are clothed with the Holy Spirit, in the name of the great Antony, in the name of Anba Macarius, of Anba Pachomius. and of Abu-Chaluda, whose prayers make the land of Egypt prosper, who established the canons and made them obligatory in the monastic state. For us, we continued their good works, and we heard and kept their holy teachings. As for you, my dear children, observe all that I have just told you, as well as the fundamental monastic rule that your spiritual fathers have established for you. Recommend to those who will come after you until the age of the future, to observe all that I have said to you today, according to the words of the Apostle St. Paul: “Be conformed to me as I have conformed myself to Christ. So you, my dear children, conform to me and follow in my footsteps, as I followed the footsteps of my holy fathers. If you observe what I have just said to you, then the Mother of God will intercede for you (because you live in a land that belongs to her), as I have often found myself. I saw it with my eyes in this church, I heard it from my ears, saying, “This is my home, and because I loved it, I live there with my servant Samuel and all his children who will come after him and cling to his counsels.“
You must, therefore, my dear children, fulfill perfectly all the ordinances, as well as all the monastic constitution. If you do, you will deserve to see the Virgin Mother of God, Our Lady Mary, as I have seen her myself, and heard that she will give many privileges to those who will live in this desert, who will visit it and come to seek the blessing there, and forgiveness of sins.
Blessed are you, my children, you have deserved to dwell in the land of the very pure Virgin Our Lady Mary, to sing and bless God in this church which the Mother of God has chosen for (27 V.) his residence.- Blessed is he who takes a few steps to come to this church with faith: I tell you, my dear children, that the Mother of God Our Lady Mary will ask her Son of to accept his repentance and to forgive him all his sins, blessed are those who offer a sacrifice in this holy church, for I say to you that the Mother of God will intercede for him with God, that he may receive his sacrifice in the heavenly Jerusalem. He who binds himself by a vow to this sanctuary, if he hastens to acquit it, I say to you that the Virgin Mary Mary will accept his vow and will grant his request quickly.The one also who writes this holy discourse, who places it in the church, the one who reads it for the benefit of the souls of those who listen to it, preserves it and conforms their conduct to what is written in it, departing from the wrong way, and thus saving their souls, I tell you that the Virgin Mary will ask her beloved Son to tear up the book of his sins and to inscribe his name in the book of life.
Now, my dear children, if you observe well that I have recommended you, the Virgin Mary will intercede for you near her beloved Son and he will put your enemies under your feet and you will tread upon the head of the monster (Satan) and you will break all the strength of the enemy. If you observe well what I have advised you, the kings and the governors will offer you presents, the archons will pay you the honors and the Berbers will be submitted to you. Apply with all your strength, my dear children, to do with courage and at their hours, the prayers that are prescribed for the day, and to be faithful to the meeting for the night prayer. Be careful of changing the constitution I have set for you, so as not to expose you to a terrible judgment. Observe and observe again, my dear children, all that I have prescribed you in order to be children of the kingdom of heavens.
Do not talk during Mass, because that is a great mistake. In spite of the songs performed in the church, and the readings (28 rd.) made for the salvation of souls, some speak with one another, but know that the one who causes this in the church will be rejected by God and his Angels; the mother of God will be angry with him; his prayer will be unseemly, and he will be held accountable for his disobedience – That person will not serve in the church if he is not one of those who are consecrated for it. Prescribe to your children to recommend to those who will come after them until the end of the future ages, that no one speaks inside the choir, the altar, using the language of the Arabs; whoever acts in such a manner deserves the curse. “Here, my dear children, have I spoken to you; he who listens and observes will be saved.”
When he said these things, we mean our holy father Anba Samuel, while the audience listened to him, behold, our father, the bishop, Anba Gregorius, burst into bitter tears. to the point of wetting his clothes with his tears, because of the events that were to take place. Then our Father, Anba Samuel answered him: This is only a small punishment by which God will chastise the generation of those times. But if the vengeance of the sins they have committed come upon them, who could stand before God? According to what is written, “If you should mark iniquity, Lord. Lord, who can stand before you? As it is written, “It is good for me that you have humbled me, so that I may keep your commandments” and again; “The Lord punished me very severely, but he did not deliver me to death.” So whoever accepts the Lord’s correction with thanks when he confesses his sins and does not return to them a second time, he will be saved: he who accepts the Lord’s correction with thanks and patience, when it happens to him, because of Christ, will be saved according to the word of the holy Gospel: “He who perseveres to the end will be saved.” As for one who is impatient and doubtful, woe to him forever. Indeed, many Christians at that time will deny Christ because of the short time of testing that will come about. Some will deny him because of the difficulties they will have and because they will find no one to instruct or comfort them in their troubles: they will be deprived of the help of instruction. Many others will fall because of the preponderance of mundane things to which their minds will cling, without being influenced by anyone; those will fall. Others, only because of the pleasure of eating and drinking will fall; others because of the idleness of the body and the error of sin. Then their brethren and their parents will not weep for them, nor grieve about their fate, but, on the contrary, they will find in them an object for their vanity: they will eat and drink with them, and after that they will will envy them, imitate them, and like them they will deny Christ. Woe to those who are so, for their abode in hell will be an abyss of depth for ever. Thereupon: “My holy father,” said Anba Gregorius, “Do you believe that the event will be delayed, and how long will this trial and domination of this race last in the land of Egypt?” The holy Anba Samuel answered him: “My father Anba Gregorius, no one knows the disposition of the times nor their vicissitudes, except the Creator alone: but if the Christians convert and renounce their bad actions, fulfilling the canons of the church and stand there with vigilance and righteousness before God. God will spare them these troubles; but if they do not convert. they will last on the earth until the end of the domination of the Arabs, to the last of the kings of the Arabs. The last of the kings of the Arabs will be called Lasmarini [or Lasmarisu]. His name in figures gives six hundred and sixty-six; understand the one who is able to understand [litt. he who has a heart].
He will come from two nations. During his reign the earth will be troubled: his garment will have the color of gold; he will have a brave blade and deliver for a dinar a man to death: in his time there will be no rest: on his face there will be no trace of modesty; he will not have the fear of God, which he will not even remember. He will not follow the ordinances of his father, for he will be an Ishmaelite, nor the profession of his mother, for she will be Frankish; he will love drunkenness, he will be bloodthirsty; under his reign men will suffer many pains; he will have many of them massacred by surprise; men will experience great difficulty in those times. and will be waiting for divine mercy in the midst of the many tribulations that will be frequently inflicted upon them by the Son of Ishmael. After this test, God will remember his people so greatly humiliated and send against them [the Arabs] the king of the Greeks, in great fury, on the side of the sea, because the Archangel Michael will appear to him in a vision and will say to him: “Raise and plunder in your turn, for the Lord has given you all the earth.” and so he will reign over all the earth. It will also happen that the king of Abyssinia will wreak havoc in the domain of their ancestors on the side of the East. Those of the Arabs will flee to the deserts where they were originally from; they will flee from the east in front of the king of the Egyptians, and the king of the Greeks will come upon the sons of Ishmael and surround them in the valley of Al-Hefar, the place of their ancestors; he will destroy them from the West and cause them to drown. Terror and great fear will seize the Sons of Ishmael and all their adherents. God will deliver them to the king of the Greeks, who will put them to the sword and strip them, because they have oppressed the earth. That is why, by a just decree. God will deliver them to the king of the Greeks, who will make them pass through trials, in truth a hundred times greater than those they have caused: they will be in poverty, in misery, in pain, in the difficulties, they shall be subject to the sword: the king of the Greeks shall enter into the land of Egypt, set fire to the city of the Egyptians, named Babylon, because it is there that the Sons of Ishmael accomplished their abominations. He will destroy the land of Al-Djonf and submit the Sons of Ishmael to the penalty of slavery and all kinds of suffering.
(f. 29 V.) Those of them who have survived, will flee to the deserts of their fathers. – The king of Abyssinia will marry the daughter of the king of the Greeks and there will be such a pacification, such a peace and harmony on all the face of the earth for forty years (there will never be seen anything like it on earth.) There will be great joy for the Christians who will publicly open the doors of their churches, They will build houses, plant the vineyard, raise high castles, and rejoice in the Lord their God, but those who will be called Arabs at that time!
After the forty years, here are the signs that concern the evil king: The water sources and the rivers will turn into blood, and will stay like this for an hour, their water will be bitter. The second sign: babies will speak at the age of three months after birth. The third sign: when you make the harvest of the fields, the blood will spring from the earth. It is then that the wise will flee to the mountains; for after this, the race contained beyond the sea on the side of the Arabs will appear, it is Hagog and Magog.
The earth will tremble before them and men will flee to the mountains, caves, cemeteries and they will die of hunger and thirst.This race will defile the earth for five months, and after that the Lord will send his angel who will exterminate them in one hour, the king of the Greeks will rule the earth one year and six months: he will make Jerusalem his residence. After that, God will put an end to his reign on earth and then will appear the hideous one, who is the false Messiah, making many signs and wonders with vain ostentation, he will even go, if he can, to mislead the chosen ones, according to what is written. Ten of the Greek kings will take him for support and they shall be with him in the same council, and they shall confirm his dominion: blessed is he that will fight against him, and overcome him, for he shall reign with Christ forever in the future age.
All these things, I heard from the mouth of holy Anba Samuel, I Apollo his disciple, and I brought them back to you, my Brothers. As for what he said in secret with the bishop Anba Gregorius, I did not write it, because our Father Anba Samuel recommended me not to write it. This speech and the present tales, I did not want to write for the brothers I know them to have heard them from the mouth of our Father Anba Samuel: but it is for future generations that I write them, according to the recommendation of our Father Anba Samuel, whoever therefore listens to them and preaches them will be saved, and the one who disobeys them will receive the reward he deserves, he will be treated according to his disobedience.
And now, my brothers, let us do what is right for repentance, in order to find mercy and welcome in the day of fair judgment, where every man will find a reward in harmony with his works, whether good or bad. And the most merciful Lord will make us worthy to find grace, and remission for our sins, by the priests of our holy Father Anba Samuel and by the intercession of the Virgin Mother at all times! – Glory to the Father to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and at all times, and forever and ever. “- Amen, amen, end of the holy discourse in the peace of the Lord, amen, amen.
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